The present invention relates to a cleaning system for swimming pools and the like which preferably operates automatically according to a predetermnined timing sequence, and includes the possibility of employment of different types of cleaning devices.
Historically, in the cleaning of swimming pools, suction has been used for the removal of dirt, leaves and other debris from the shell of swimming pools. Cleaning a pool manually is obviously time intensive and is generally considered a drawback to ownership of a pool. Manual cleaning involves attachment of a cleaning head to an elongated handle with wheels or the like received on the head to permit rolling along the bottom of the pool. A flexible hose is connected to the cleaning head at one end and to a skimmer at an opposite end, whereby water may be drawn through the cleaning head via the skimmer by the normal circulation system. The force of the water moving through the head creates a suction at the head which lifts trash, sediment and so forth from the bottom of the pool. Floating trash is conveyed by currents to the skimmer where it is retained in a perforated basket at the skimmer and precluded from passage to the filter system. Obviously, with such manual cleaning, and individual must move the cleaning head across the entire surface of the bottom of the pool for appropriate cleaning.
In an attempt to overcome the need for manual cleaning and thus make pool maintenance easier and keep the pool cleaner, various automatic cleaning systems have evolved. One such automatic cleaning system includes a cleaning device which is connectable to a source of water power which both supplies power for movement of the cleaning device and creates suction for the removal of the trash. While automatic cleaning systems of this type are generally successful in maintaining a clean pool, certain drawbacks are present. For example, water passed through the cleaning device for power must be pre-filtered to avoid the introduction of trash into the movement mechanism which could clog or otherwise render it inoperative. This type of automatic cleaning device also requires significant water pressure. In fact, water pressures in a range of 35 to 50 pounds per square inch are often necessary for proper operation. Normal filters used for cleaning pool water operate at significantly lower pressures, i.e. approximately 10 to 20 pounds per square inch. Also the normal pool filter media is retained in a housing designed for low pressure operation. Raising pressures in the normal filtration apparatus to the high levels mentioned above could therefore pose a hazard. Consequently, in order to avoid potential damage to the filter, including filter rupture, automatic cleaning systems of the type discussed above, normally go through the pool filtration system operating at lower pressure and include a jet booster pump located on the outflow side of the filter to raise the water pressures to the approximate 35 to 50 pounds per square inch range needed for the operation of the cleaning device.
A booster pump for this type of cleaner requires a capital expenditure for the pump. Likewise, the use of a booster pump in tandem with the normal pool pump requires additional electrical energy and, therefore, imposes an additional cost of operation. Still further, booster pumps of the type historically employed for the automatic cleaning system are merely jet pumps which receive water that has lost velocity after being forced through the filter media and they simply boost the pressure. They are short-lived, and require replacement every couple of years or so. Conversely it has been determined that in pools larger than 450 square feet of water surface area, a two pump system using two smaller horsepower pumps is actually more energy efficient and can pump more water than one larger higher horsepower pump. Moreover, when the type of pump used is identical to the pool filter pump, the life span of the pump is of longer duration than that of historically employed pressure cleaner booster pump.
It is therefore desirable to provide a cleaning system in which water is used to operate a cleaning device that moves along the bottom of the pool, but which does not require a booster water pump or energy in excess of that required for normal pool operation.
A further type of automatic cleaning that has historically been utilized for cleaning swimming pools is a total circulation system. Stationary cleaning heads are strategically located about the floor of the pool. Upon operation, water exiting from the heads dislodges trash from the surrounding pool area and moves it to a main drain in the deep end of the pool. The trash is then removed from the pool during normal water circulation to the filtration system.
Stationary cleaning heads include various designs. One design includes heads that are mounted flush with the bottom wall of the pool and, upon receipt of adequate water pressure, extend upwardly from the mounting location and rotate about an axis perpendicular to the local pool surface. Water thus exits from the head in a circular pattern to dislodge the trash and other contaminants as noted above.
A second type head mounted in a side wall of the pool in much the same fashion as a conventional water return line, but where a nozzle is provided to direct water flow in a predetermined direction for dislodging trash and contaminants and forcing them to a single area of the pool.
With both of the stationary type cleaning systems discussed above, there is a possibility that the bottom of the pool will not be completely cleaned. Additionally, the water force utilized to dislodge trash and contaminants from the side walls and bottom and move it to the main drain of the pool causes the contaminants to be suspended in the water. As a result, less than complete cleaning is experienced. After the cleaning cycle has run, the suspended matter will again settle to the bottom of the pool.
Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, cleaning systems involving the stationary cleaning heads do not address the problem of the removal of large particles of trash such as leaves, which will not pass through a main or bottom drain in the pool. Accordingly, even with the stationary cleaning heads, a pool owner is often required to augment this cleaning system with an additional cleaning method for removal of leaves and other large contaminates.
Stationary cleaning systems of the rotary type discussed above, have been automated to permit certain of the cleaning heads to operate according to a pre-determined cleaning cycle. Still further a stationary system with both fixed and rotary heads has been employed that uses an in-deck canister with a large mesh strainer basket located between the pump and the main drain so that leaves and other large debris can be removed from the pool prior to reaching the pump strainer basket. This system utilizes a proprietary circulation configuration described as a xe2x80x9cwater curtainxe2x80x9d which is designed to direct large objects to the area of the main drains. Unfortunately, this system often winds up with leaves and other large debris trapped in the main drain grate, also the mesh bag in the canister does little to alleviate obstruction of the filter with medium size debris such as sand and silt which greatly shortens filter cycles, and this system has extensive piping for cleaning return lines which are directly under the floor of the pool and thus inaccessible in the event any defects in the piping arise. Still further, the water curtain is difficult to maintain unless the filter is clean and water flows are optimal.
The two pump configuration used with this water curtain system pulls water through a conventional skimmer strainer basket and then sends it directly through the pump into the automatic six port hydraulic water valve and on into cleaning return lines with the strong potential for clogging and failure because of the medium sized debris such as sand and silt which passes through the skimmer strainer basket, leading to clogs either in the ports of the water valve or in the cleaning heads themselves. Additionally in large pools or pools with elaborate configurations or multiple planes of elevation, the water curtain system leaves areas that are not adequately swept with the flow currents or areas that become dead spots or trash accumulators.
Active main drains which may be employed in these type of systems have conventional main drain grates or raised slotted grates, which often cause mechanical failures of the aforementioned moveable cleaning units. The moveable cleaning units either become wedged in the grate of the main drain or between the grate and its housing. Furthermore larger leaves such as those from magnolias or oaks will usually not pass through these conventional grates.
As can be seen from the above representative or a available cleaning systems, no one system is without problems. The cleaning system of the present invention, however overcomes all of the disadvantages of the prior art systems, and is not taught or suggested thereby.
According to its preferred embodiments, the present invention is a cleaning system for a swimming pool that is characterized by plural active drains deployed about the bottom wall of a swimming pool which, when used in combination with plural stationary nozzles mounted in the side walls, receives debris swept by the wall nozzles to the active floor drains to clean the pool. Additionally, the active floor drains have a grid cover that admits larger debris and does not prohibit the use of mobile pool cleaners. The active floor drains are connected to in-deck, fine-mesh, cannister filters to remove medium and large size debris before it reaches the pump and pool filtration system.
An important feature of the present invention is the use of plural active floor drains in connection with sequenced side wall nozzles. By sequencing the nozzles, dirt and debris can be swept down the sides and toward nearby active floor drains where it can be sucked into cannister filters. This arrangement eliminates the need to sweep dirt and debris all the way from the bottoms of the side wall to the single drain in the deep end of the pool. It also eliminates the need for pop-up nozzles on the bottom of the pool in favor of active drains which are simpler and less expensive.
Another important feature of the present invention is the design of the active floor drain cover, which, by its design, curls large leaves to admit them into the drain and does not present sharp edges or obstacles to mobile cleaning systems. The present invention not only brings the main drains to the dirt but can be designed to locate main drains in planes of the pool that would ordinarily be dead spots. Additionally, not only can the flows from the cleaning return lines be sequenced or constant, so too can the flows from the active main drains also be sequenced or constant where desirable.
Obviously, the present invention also retains the feature of the inventor""s past inventions whereby a mobile pressure driven or suction driven robot or robots can be added to the cleaning cycle to bring about complete cleaning coverage of all areas of the pool regardless of configuration or multiple elevation planes.
Still another feature of the present invention is the use of two or more sets of side wall nozzles, one just below the water line and one near the cove so that, when properly sequenced, dirt and debris can be moved down the wall and across part of the bottom wall to the active drains deployed there. This feature enables a complete sweep of the wall and part of the floor but without undue turbulence that would otherwise resuspend finer particulates.
Other features and their advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art of pool cleaning technology from a careful reading of the Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments, accompanied by the following drawings.